– `Gayle Force’, Bravo power West Indies to easy win over England
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Chris Gayle marauded 80 from 43 balls to lead West Indies to an eight-wicket victory over England in the rain-affected third One-day International yesterday at Kensington Oval.
In a breathtaking display of hitting, Gayle smashed five fours and eight sixes, as West Indies, chasing 118 for victory from 44 overs, hit the jackpot with 176 balls to spare.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul formalised the result when he played Stuart Broad to mid-off and scampered a single.
The result gave West Indies a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, after they won the second ODI in Guyana by 21 runs last Sunday.
West Indies lost the opening match in bizarre circumstances last Friday, when they accepted bad light believing they were ahead of the target under the Duckworth-Lewis Method.
The fourth ODI will be contested on Sunday also at Kensington Oval with the series coming to a close next Friday at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia.
Gayle gave a hint of what he had planned, when he upper cut a short, rising ball from Stuart Broad over third man for his first six.
He continued to plunder the England bowling and reached his 50 from just 27 balls, when he smashed Dimitri Mascarenhas over cover for his fifth six in an over that cost the medium-paced bowled 24 runs.
The West Indies captain was eventually bowled by James Anderson in the 12th over when he missed a slog and left the field to tumultuous applause from a capacity crowd.
West Indies continued to inch their way forward and lost Ramnaresh Sarwan, when Broad bowled him for 10 in the 16th over before Chanderpaul hit the winning run.
Earlier, Dwayne Bravo, later Man-of-the-Match, was the most successful West Indies bowler with four wickets for 19 runs from seven overs, as England, sent in to bat, were dismissed for 117 in 41.3 overs.
Fidel Edwards supported with three for 28 from 8.3 overs, and Kieron Pollard foxed-out two for 16 from six overs.
West Indies looked set to skittle England out for much less, but Dimitri Mascarenhas batted responsibly in the closing overs to gather the top score of 36 from 76 balls to beef-up the visitors’ total, after they sunk to 68 for eight in the 25th over.
Greeted by a helpful pitch, West Indies put England in tailspin following a start delayed by an hour-and-a-half.
West Indies bowled steadily to cut through the cream of England’s batting before Gareth Batty joined Mascarenhas and they added 48 for the ninth wicket in the best stand of the innings to boost the visitors’ total before they were dismissed within seven balls of each other to bring the innings to a close.
